The station can trace its history back to a one-hour-long, syndicated radio programme called the "Ministry of Sound Dance Party" which was produced in a tiny studio in the MoS offices using Pro Tools from 1996, by Robert Sharp.

The syndication of the show spurred Ministry manager James Bethel to turn the programme into a rolling audio stream which was available on the MoS website from 1998.

The small team of Sharp, Kingsley, Dunne and Ovenden began ripping thousands of dance tracks into the system, making a station identity and planning a full schedule.

Charlotte Coker joined later, as did Alexander Bartelemy, John Askew, Drew Erskine, Brian Cheetham and Iam Fulton (temporary).

Ministry of Sound Radio began test transmissions from a single PC in Bethel's office during the summer of 2000, while a full studio was constructed opposite the MoS reception desk.

During July and August 2000, the station was broadcast live every night from a makeshift studio built into the Ministry's hotel in Ibiza.

The radio station ran a nine-hour, live, outside broadcast from the event, relaying the main dancefloor across London and to the world online.

[6] The success of the first feed then led Switch Digital to add Ministry of Sound Radio to its application, for the next DAB service in Central Scotland.

[8] Dunne and Ovenden led an application for a temporary Restricted Service Licence (RSL) on the FM band in Central London.